2003 Denver Mayoral Runoff Election
The first poll since the mayoral race narrowed to John Hickenlooper and Don Mares shows Hickenlooper way out in front of Mares according to the Rocky Mountain News. The lead is currently 59% to 31%. The article quotes Lori Weigel, a partner with Public Opinion Strategies, as saying, "Given that a majority of likely voters indicate they are registered Democrats, the battle for the Democrat vote in the city is clearly going to be fierce over the next three weeks ... It's the ultimate revenge of the nerds for John Hickenlooper. Everybody loves him now. His main opponent now is voter apathy, not Mares."
The Northeast Denver Ministerial Alliance may love Hickenlooper but they've thrown their support to Don Mares according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Don just knows how to talk to us,' said the Rev. Acen Phillips, senior pastor at Mount Gilead Baptist Church in east Denver. 'Don's part of the community. He's astute."
The Denver Post has an article about a private meeting held yesterday between Mayor Webb, many of his appointees, and John Hickenlooper. From the article, "Many of the two dozen people in attendance skirted reporters by going out the back door. Participants went to great lengths to keep Thursday's meeting private. One told a reporter the meeting was in another room, then locked the door when he left." Hickenlooper has been walking a tightrope trying to be the candidate of change and new ideas, and not to appear to close to Webb, while trying to avoid attacking city hall and alienating Webb and his inner circle. Mares has accused Webb of cronyism and backroom deals during his administration. From the article, "Webb, who has battled with Mares for years, acknowledged Wednesday that he met privately with Tate before Tate endorsed Hickenlooper."
According to the Denver Post the city budget was once again the hot topic at a mayoral forum. From the article, "Hickenlooper insisted the mayor and City Council need to cut the cost of paying and providing benefits to city workers. Mares said he would trim other costs before cutting worker pay and benefits ... Supportive city workers are essential for a new mayor to succeed in implementing a vision for the city, he added."
Don Mares' campaign is opening two new satellite offices, one in Northeast Denver and one in Northwest Denver to help with get out the vote efforts in both communities.
Highlights of the last Denver Decides forum for city employees: Both candidates are firmly supportive of the city doing more to help the mentally ill. John Hickenlooper would support a regional housing trust and Don Mares said that after safety, social services would be his top priority. Mares' praised the incorporation of the old 1445 Cleveland building into the Webb building and Hickenlooper stressed the need to appoint a strong director of planning when they were asked what they would have done differently with respect to the Denver Convention Center. Both candidates expressed their belief that partial public funding of elections is appropriate to give less well-healed candidates a better chance. They also praised Denver's election laws with Mares stating that Denver was ahead of the curve on this issue. When asked about the $60 million in uncollected parking fines Mares stated that there is a time to stop spending dough chasing uncollectable debts and that Parking Management generally has done a good job at collections. Hickenlooper thinks the city needs to be more agressive by turning scofflaws over to collection agencies and offering an amnesty program similar to a program in Chicago. John Hickenlooper took the opportunity to ask Don Mares if his campaign was going negative in light of reports to that effect in the papers this week. Mares denied that his was a negative campaign but reserved the right to make distinctions by pointing out differences between himself and Hickenlooper. Mares asked Hickenlooper if he'd switched positions on parking meter rates, since his first ad aired, by not advocating a reduction in rates downtown, and whether or not he was misleading the voters. Hickenlooper countered that as mayor he would need to find an alternate funding source to replace revenue if the city lowered rates and that he did not mean to mislead people with his ad, it was designed to point out that government can make bad decisions when they do not include effected parties. Both candidates support the continued existence of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and the State Historical Fund. On a question about the growing influence of metro office holders in the State Legislature both candidates advocated working regionally to influence legislation and policy. Mares mentioned his experience in the legislature as a distinguishing trait. During the forum Mares reiterated his opposition to reducing employee pay and benefits before getting the budget in line. Hickenlooper, in closing, mentioned that the Public Works Department needs someone experienced in managing a large bureaucracy. He also stressed that he has no plans to privatize any city services and mentioned that city workers should receive a part of any savings they help to produce.
John Hickenlooper has picked up the endorsement from the Metro Housing Coalition -- the Home Builder's Association of metro Denver's political arm, according to the Denver Business Journal.
Support for the mentally ill is the subject of this editorial from the Denver Post. From the editorial, "Let's hope that it's not just pre-runoff rhetoric between political foes vying for the same job that has the candidates for Denver mayor talking seriously about mental illness. Let's hope the winner actually will focus on helping the city's mentally ill population."
Here's a link to the Post's letters to the editor with quite a few people weighing in on the mayoral runoff.
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